In our Report “Polymerase exchange during Okazaki fragment synthesis observed in living cells” (1), a collaboration between the Allemand and Michel labs, we performed single-molecule microscopy experiments to describe the replisome dynamics during replication in Escherichia coli. We deduced polymerase exchange from the variation of spot intensity with time, interpreted as specific DNA binding and unbinding of fluorescently tagged components of the replisome. Our recent attempts to repeat these experiments have failed, and we now realize that several issues invalidate the original analyses, including sampling errors, skewed statistical analysis, and miscalculations. The real ratio of significant replisomes (two distinct replisomes per cell) is much less important than stated in the Report, whereas the background (spots due to unbound proteins) is higher. We therefore retract the Report. We apologize to the scientific community for any loss of time and resources caused by this publication.

The paper has been cited 29 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.